Friday 5/17

Final Portfolio Due!!!

"Chinese president arrives for U.S. state visit" --- By the CNN Wire Staff (1/19/2011) and "U.S and China: same summit, different views" ---By Jaime FlorCruz (1/22/2011)

These two articles go hand and hand, because they both relate to the recent visit the Chinese president made to the United States. The Chinese president, Hu Jintao, came to the U.S. to discuss major issues with President Obama; including: trade, currency, North Korea, and other global issues. Obama had planned to bring up a few controversial issues; the Noble Peace Prize winner and human rights. These significant topics would eventually have to be addressed by both of these leaders. This meeting between the presidents of the two largest economies in the world at the moment has been influential in the global affairs. According to China, they will continue to work in the international community "to ensure peace, stability, and prosperity". The United States and China both have intentions and hopes to achieve through this meeting but they have quite different views from each other. They both hope that the other superpower will adapt to their outlooks, but neither one of them are willing to compromise greatly.

These articles pertain to what we have been studying about Huntington and his views. Huntington thought that the United States should be connected with the other global powers. China is continuously growing and is becoming an rising power that isn't necessary a western civilization but it is a civilization that the United States should keep an eye on. Huntington has the realist views and pushes for the best possible in favor of the United States. The realist side of Huntington would push for Obama to try to install his and the U.S.'s outlook on China. The United States is trying to keep its status as the leading power in the world, which they gained after the end of the Cold War. In hope to keeping this status, they need to coroperate with other powers while still being the prominant power in the global community. My view on this topic is that the relationship between China and the United States is at a delicate state right now. Without the support of one another, each country would lose some power on the global level. The relationship has many flaws including but not limited to the opposing views on certain world topics. I believe that the United States and China both have to work towards more agreements with one another, if either one of them wants to continue to be a superpower in the world today.

This is an interview regarding the China and their control over the media that blocks the international news about the recent Noble Peace Prize. The interview was held with CNN's Beijing Bureau Chief Jaime FlorCruz who offers his view on this topic. The winner of the Noble Peace Prize was Liu Xiaobo. This caused an upraising problem in China because Liu Xiaobo was an imprisoned nonconformist. For China having Liu Xiaobo win the Noble Peace Prize was seen to be a treat for their government. Therefore China made the news unavailable for the Chinese residents who live in the mainland. Having websites blocked in China isn't iregular, it happens frequently because China's government has the power to control their internet. When this happened, the television wasnt blocked like the internet had been but the screen was blacked out anytime their was a mentioned the Noble Peace Prize.This has happened more than once, it is fairly common in China for having subjects blocked from their television and their internet. It's occurs when the subjects of Taiwan, Tibet, Tienanmen Square protests, and Falun Gong. This process has adapted to become more popular as a way to protect (more like shield) the Chinese from China's issues.

This article relates to topics in the second part of Chapter One through the state of China. China has state causes proximate and remote that relate back to their common use of blacking out the media. The remote causes would be the previous examples of their use, like Taiwan, Tibet, Tienanmen Square protests, and Falun Gong. Another remote cause would be their reasoning for banning Facebook from China as well, the government uses their supremacy over the Chinese people to prevent these actions from repeating. An individual proximate cause would be the actions of Liu Xiaobo and Nicehow he rebelled against China. His past rebellions and contrasting views from the Chinese governement was what caused the media singals to be blocked.

This article discusses the current topic of Europe's financial changes, that have occurred recently and are still being revealed. European leaders disagree over a solution to this escalating problem they are facing. These leaders need to tackle a solution for eurozone before their crisis spirals out of control. Germany seems to have blocked the joint governmental bonds, which is a catalyst to this problem. Germany's Wolfgang Schäuble stated that "fundamental changes" would be necessary in order to keep the value of the euro stable. In my opinion, it's almost as if Germany's Wolfgang Schäuble foresaw this crisis and tried to insure that Germany would be protected. The European Union hasn't been able to clarify the solution that to this crisis but this surely is effecting all the members because of the uniting money source, the Euro.

This article relates to the topics in Chapter One in a variety of different ways. The issue at hold is within the European Union, which is a system of states itself. Its not a complete international system, but it does include different states and follows the definition of a system. The system of EU has undergone a few financial problems recently that have caught the eye of the public. Although the system is limited to the European Union members, the effect of their problems play a large role in the international system as a whole. Schematic reasoning and cognitive dissonance play minor role in this article as well, because the value of the euro and the power of the European Union is particularly based of stereotypes. Although then when a problem occurred, it wasn't completely ignored but rather unaccepted to be reality. When Ireland became bankrupt the value of their euro diminished, although the rest of the European Union took no necessary means to rebalanced their system. The lack of precautions have lead us to this predicament because of the unacknowledged issue, which is the cognitive dissonance part. Chapter One has focused the basics of global affairs, which is mainly iterations. The interactions of the EU is significant since many of the most powerful nations in the world are members. This article helps outsiders examine the interactions specifically between the European leaders and how they need to communicate with one another.

Nice job, Avril. If you asked a German 80 years ago if he would be fine using a common European currency, he'd laugh in your face. Given the historical conflict between European nations, the EU is a major step forward, but they are only now realizing what this means - good and bad. This is a perfect example of an integrative trend. As nations move beyond their differences, they can work together for a common cause. But, in times of crisis, those differences may become more acute.